
Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly
THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Paul's Epistle to the Galatians is a small
book, only six chapters, but a book large
with meaning to the Christian church. The
book of Galatians will require close study,
but its message of justification through
faith in Christ's righteousness, as opposed
to justification by law keeping, is the very
heart of Christianity.
There has been considerable discussion
throughout the decades as to the identity
of the "law" in Galatians. In the book
The
Acts of the Apostles,
pages 383-388, Mrs.
White discusses the background of the Ga-
latian epistle. She identifies the basic prob-
lem in the Galatian churches as being the
influence of certain Jewish teachers who
"urged upon the Gentile converts the ob-
servance of the ceremonial law."—Page
383. "Christ, the true foundation of the
faith, was virtually renounced for the ob-
solete ceremonies of Judaism."—Page 385.
"Their [the false teachers'] religion was
made up of a round of ceremonies, through
the performance of which they expected
to gain the favor of God."—Page 386.
These teachers, also known as Judaizers,
were urging that Gentile converts, in ad-
dition to accepting Jesus Christ, should
adopt various practices of Judaism, includ-
ing that of circumcision.
Paul's letter to the Galatians was his
answer to the claims of these Judaizers. In
his forceful style Paul explained to the Ga-
latians the sublime truth that men are
justified by faith in Jesus Christ, not by
their compliance with legal requirements,
even the requirements God Himself had
made at one time or another in ages past.
The Judaizers claimed that men would have
to
do
something to earn justification; spe-
cifically, they would have to comply with
the legal requirements of the Jewish re-
ligion. Paul said No ! Justification comes
as a free gift from God, not as a man's
due because he has done something to merit
it. The idea that a man could do some-
thing to
earn
justification makes Christ's
death on the cross superfluous. That is why
Paul exclaims in Galatians 6:14, "God for-
bid that I should glory, save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The great central truth of the Epistle
to the Galatians, then, is that a sinner can-
not earn justification by compliance with
any
legal requirements, be they ceremonial
or moral. "I am asked concerning the law
in Galatians. What law is the schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ? I answer: Both the
ceremonial and the moral code of Ten Com-
mandments."—Selected
Messages,
b. 1, p.
233.
In Paul's day, it was by compliance with
the Jewish religious requirements that some
were attempting to earn salvation. It was
with these false teachers in mind particu-
larly that Paul wrote to the Galatians. The
great central truth set forth in Galatians
is as true today as it was in Paul's time.
No Christians today are tempted to think
that they can earn justification by adopt-
ing the practices of Judaism. There is the
very real danger, however, that some may
think that by a rigorous compliance with
the requirements of the Decalogue, with
the payment of their tithes and offe
rings,
with certain dietary practices, and other
things, they earn God's favor. They think
that if they rigorously do all of these
things, comply with all the jots and tittles
of the law, they will earn justification, and
that God will be obliged to admit them into
heaven.
The book of Galatians stands forth as a
solemn warning to all such that a man is
not justified by what he does, but by faith
in Jesus Christ and a wholehearted com-
mitment of the will and the life to Christ.
So, for us today, "the Holy Spirit through
the apostle is speaking especially of the
moral
law."—Ibid.,
p. 234. As Paul makes
clear in Galatians 5 and 6, a man who has
already found justification in Christ will
live by the law of Christ. He will faithfully
comply with all that Christ requires of him,
not as a means to salvation, but because
of his soul-consuming love for Christ.
Then, and only then, will the glorious fruit
of the Spirit reach maturity in his life.
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